Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Middle-Class Squeeze
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 26 Sept 2015 | Charles Moore

Posted on 09/26/2015 7:14:32 AM PDT by Theoria

If Western countries want to disprove the dire forecasts of Karl Marx, we must think creatively about how to make the middle class more prosperous and secure

Go back, for a moment, nearly 30 years. In March 1987, Margaret Thatcher visited Mikhail Gorbachev, the reforming leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in Moscow. Sitting in the Kremlin, the two argued for hours. At one point, Mr. Gorbachev accused Mrs. Thatcher of leading the party of the “haves” and of fooling the people about who really controlled the levers of power. The Iron Lady had an answer: “I explained,” she wrote in her memoirs, “that what I was trying to do was create a society of ‘haves,’ not a class of them.”

In the era of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, those words carried conviction. There was plenty of argument, of course, about whether the means they chose were the best and about the fate of those who got left behind. But even critics reluctantly had to agree about which way history was heading: The society of “haves” in the West was growing; state socialism was imploding.

Most of the rest of the world was hoping to follow the West’s example. Two and a half years later, the Berlin Wall fell. Almost all the newly emerging ex-Communist regimes sought market freedoms for their people. Back home in the Anglosphere, the spread of ownership—of stocks and homes—and the expansion of economic and personal opportunity were the dominant themes of the age. As Mrs. Thatcher bustled around Whitehall urging on her program of popular capitalism, she used to shout: “Every earner an owner!”

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: capitalism; economy; globalization; immigration; middleclass

1 posted on 09/26/2015 7:14:32 AM PDT by Theoria
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Theoria

'When things go backward in nations accustomed to middle-class stability, people start to ask questions. What is the use of capitalism if its rewards go to the few and its risks are dumped on the many? The rights of property do not seem so enticing if the value of what you own collapses or if that property is trapped by debt. What is so great about globalization if it means that the products and services you offer are undercut by foreign competition and that millions of new people can come to your country, take your jobs and enjoy your welfare benefits?'


2 posted on 09/26/2015 7:15:20 AM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
(video) Former "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones: "Change must come from the top down and bottom up...


Jones: "We can't leave the federal government in the hands of our enemies">

3 posted on 09/26/2015 7:21:57 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Crony capitalism is not capitalism.


4 posted on 09/26/2015 7:25:02 AM PDT by vbmoneyspender
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

The biggest recent addition to the middle class’s burden is Obamacare.


5 posted on 09/26/2015 7:49:36 AM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Wall Street is now little more than a rigged casino for skimming the cream from the top of the U.S. financial infrastructure.

If I was running the show, I’d force Wall Street back into doing nothing but facilitating finance for businesses: I’d outlaw all financial instruments whose sole purpose is gambling, namely I’d outlaw all derivatives, all margin transactions, all naked shorts and longs of any kind, all options, all futures contracts except those where one side is held by an entity that owns the underlying commodity (and the commodity is tangible), and all shorts on anything except stocks of businesses that make something or provide a service.

The odious Uniparty publicly proclaims their desire for reforming this bunch of crooks but are secretly funded by them with the understanding, that wink, wink, nothing will happen but the necessary empty public rhetoric for pandering to the rubes.


6 posted on 09/26/2015 8:49:12 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria
The middle class squeeze in America has at least four causes:

(1) Most middle class jobs require only limited or mid-level skills, and they are often repetitive in nature. They are especially vulnerable to new technology.

(2) Massive LEGAL immigration has created a massive oversupply of low skill and mid-level skill workers. Politically, we could have stopped that decades ago. But now that 20 million of those immigrants have become Democrat voters, it's probably impossible to stop.

(3) The Internet, and specifically “price discovery” and “quality comparison.” Our recently acquired ability to instantly communicate with anyone in the world means we can also buy or sell almost anything to anyone in the world. I don't see any practical way to put that “genie” back in the bottle.

(4) Perhaps most important, there are vast differences in human beings. A significant percentage of the American working age population lack the energy, the intellect, and the personal conviction to adapt themselves to a rapidly changing and quite frightening economic reality.

7 posted on 09/26/2015 9:04:04 AM PDT by zeestephen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

bfl


8 posted on 09/26/2015 9:13:38 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (I've switched. Trump is my #1. He understands how to get things done. Cruz can be VP.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: zeestephen

Also the outsourcing of labor-intensive manufacturing to overseas outfits. There are much fewer good-paying manufacturing jobs that people can get with just a high school education, compared to the golden age after World War II when the USA had little competition. Those days are gone forever.


9 posted on 09/26/2015 10:12:47 AM PDT by DeweyCA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: catnipman

So you have no issues with adding a FURTHER LAYER of regulation. What you propose is Dodd-Frank on steroids


10 posted on 09/26/2015 10:14:19 AM PDT by MadIsh32 (In order to be pro-market, sometimes you must be anti-big business)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: MadIsh32

“So you have no issues with adding a FURTHER LAYER of regulation. What you propose is Dodd-Frank on steroids”

Nope, I’m not proposing any regulations, I’m proposing a simple, outright BAN based on new Congressional legislation.


11 posted on 09/26/2015 10:21:05 AM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Theoria

Over the length of Hillary Clinton’s political career her top five donars have been Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs, DLA Piper, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Morgan Stanley.

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=n00000019


12 posted on 09/26/2015 11:39:49 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

also, the increased taxation......we are being killed with taxes...


13 posted on 09/27/2015 9:15:16 AM PDT by cherry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson